To the Pope, from Zenit, quoting Soloviev:
According to Vatican Radio's summary of his preaching, the cardinal explained that "the teaching that the great Russian philosopher left us is that Christianity cannot be reduced to a set of values. At the center of being a Christian is, in fact, the personal encounter with Jesus Christ."
Quoting the work "Three Dialogues on War, Progress and the End of History," Cardinal Biffi told his listeners that "the Antichrist presents himself as pacifist, ecologist and ecumenist."
"He will convoke an ecumenical council and will seek the consensus of all the Christian confessions, granting something to each one. The masses will follow him, with the exception of small groups of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants," he said.
The cardinal added that Solovyov says in that work: "Days will come in Christianity in which they will try to reduce the salvific event to a mere series of values."
No cross
In his "Tale of the Antichrist" Solovyov foresees that a small group of Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants will resist and will say to the Antichrist: "You give us everything, except what interests us, Jesus Christ."
For Cardinal Biffi, this narrative is a warning: "Today, in fact, we run the risk of having a Christianity which puts aside Jesus with his cross and resurrection."
The 78-year-old cardinal said that if Christians "limited themselves to speaking of shared values they would be more accepted on television programs and in social groups. But in this way, they will have renounced Jesus, the overwhelming reality of the resurrection."
The cardinal said he believes that this is "the danger that Christians face in our days … the Son of God cannot be reduced to a series of good projects sanctioned by the prevailing worldly mentality."
However, "this does not mean a condemnation of values, but their careful discernment. There are absolute values, such as goodness, truth, beauty," Cardinal Biffi said. "Those who perceive and love them, also love Christ, even if they don't know it, because he is Truth, Beauty and Justice."
The preacher of the Spiritual Exercises added that "there are relative values, such as solidarity, love of peace and respect for nature. If these become absolute, uprooting or even opposing the proclamation of the event of salvation, then these values become an instigation to idolatry and obstacles on the way of salvation."
Cardinal Biffi affirmed that "if Christianity -- on opening itself to the world and dialoguing with all -- dilutes the salvific event, it closes itself to a personal relationship with Jesus and places itself on the side of the Antichrist."
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
"Who are you, Moses?
The quote is from Schindler's List. Now to my application of the Scriptures to the news of the day:
From Jude 1:9:
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."
Playmate Burial Dispute Back in Court
Just bury the poor girl, stop fighting over the body!
From Jude 1:9:
But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you."
Playmate Burial Dispute Back in Court
Just bury the poor girl, stop fighting over the body!
This Lent, Empty Your Closets!
Then what?
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What I'm Reading Now
Someone asked me, based on the post below, what in fact I am reading right now:
This is a series of lectures that Soloviev gave that read like Scripture. Tolstoy and Dostevyesky attended the lectures. They are amazing!
Essentially a work of moral theology/philosophy packed with great insights. I quote from this work in my Lenten Meditation for the First Sunday of Lent here:
Solovyov posits two rules in this regard:
"Have God in you." (God wants to be in communion with us. He wants to fulfill the desire He has placed in our hearts for Him.)
"Regard everything in God's way."(And here Solovyov means "everything," even evil, of which he says:"We must regard evil in God's way, i.e. without being indifferent to it, we must rise above absolute opposition to it and allow it--when it does not proceed from us--as means of perfection, in so far as a greater good can be derived from it. (The Justification of the Good" )
I've read about half of this so far, which actually is great Lented reading because the first half deals with Prayer, Alsmgiving and Fasting--the prayer chapter is masterfully done using the Lord's prayer which I think shows the genius of Soloviev--for when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray that is what he did and Soloviev shows how each petition of the Our Father teaches us how to pray to God.
All of Soloviev's writings make a great supplement to a modern writer who I've mentioned before on this blog, Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer. His: is a life changing book, read some of the comments on the Amazon page.
This is a series of lectures that Soloviev gave that read like Scripture. Tolstoy and Dostevyesky attended the lectures. They are amazing!
Essentially a work of moral theology/philosophy packed with great insights. I quote from this work in my Lenten Meditation for the First Sunday of Lent here:
Solovyov posits two rules in this regard:
"Have God in you." (God wants to be in communion with us. He wants to fulfill the desire He has placed in our hearts for Him.)
"Regard everything in God's way."(And here Solovyov means "everything," even evil, of which he says:"We must regard evil in God's way, i.e. without being indifferent to it, we must rise above absolute opposition to it and allow it--when it does not proceed from us--as means of perfection, in so far as a greater good can be derived from it. (The Justification of the Good" )
I've read about half of this so far, which actually is great Lented reading because the first half deals with Prayer, Alsmgiving and Fasting--the prayer chapter is masterfully done using the Lord's prayer which I think shows the genius of Soloviev--for when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray that is what he did and Soloviev shows how each petition of the Our Father teaches us how to pray to God.
All of Soloviev's writings make a great supplement to a modern writer who I've mentioned before on this blog, Fr. Tadeusz Dajczer. His:
Cardinal Biffi's Talk on Soloviev
Currently, I'm reading three books by Vladimir Soloviev (is name is spelled differently in English in all three), this is a preliminary report on Cardinal Biffi's remarks, hopefully I'll find more posted later.
From Papa Ratzger Forum:
Today, it was that of the Russian philosopher Vladimir Sergeyevich Soloviev, who died on the threshold of the 20th century. It was a century whose viscissitudes and troubles he had prophesied, a century whose events and dominant ideologies contradicted all that was most relevant and original in his teachings.
The great theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar considered Soloviev's thinking "the most universal creative speculation of the modern era" and considered him on par with St. Thomas Aquinas.
Biffi recalled some of Soloviev's 'prophetic' visions, and said, that the prevalent attitudes today were farthest from Soloviev's vision of reality, even among Christians who work for and are acculturated to the Church.
He said these atttiudes ranged from selfish individualism to moral subjectivism, to pacifism and non-violence - confused with the Gospel ideals of peace and brotherhood - which leads to bowing down to the powerful, leaving the weak and the honest defenseless.
Of Soloviev, Biffi had written in a lecture celebrating the centenary of his birth: "A passionate defender of man, he was allergic to any philanthropy. He was an indefatigable apostle of peace, but an adversary of pacifism; advocate of unity among Christians but critical of any irenism; in love with nature but far from sharing today's ecological infatuation: in short, a friend of truth and an enemy of ideology. And today we have extreme need of men who can inspire and guide like Vladimir Soloviev."
From Papa Ratzger Forum:
Today, it was that of the Russian philosopher Vladimir Sergeyevich Soloviev, who died on the threshold of the 20th century. It was a century whose viscissitudes and troubles he had prophesied, a century whose events and dominant ideologies contradicted all that was most relevant and original in his teachings.
The great theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar considered Soloviev's thinking "the most universal creative speculation of the modern era" and considered him on par with St. Thomas Aquinas.
Biffi recalled some of Soloviev's 'prophetic' visions, and said, that the prevalent attitudes today were farthest from Soloviev's vision of reality, even among Christians who work for and are acculturated to the Church.
He said these atttiudes ranged from selfish individualism to moral subjectivism, to pacifism and non-violence - confused with the Gospel ideals of peace and brotherhood - which leads to bowing down to the powerful, leaving the weak and the honest defenseless.
Of Soloviev, Biffi had written in a lecture celebrating the centenary of his birth: "A passionate defender of man, he was allergic to any philanthropy. He was an indefatigable apostle of peace, but an adversary of pacifism; advocate of unity among Christians but critical of any irenism; in love with nature but far from sharing today's ecological infatuation: in short, a friend of truth and an enemy of ideology. And today we have extreme need of men who can inspire and guide like Vladimir Soloviev."
The Pope's Lenten Retreat
By all accounts a great retreat. I would note that it seems taht Cardinal Biffi has really aimed this retreat at the pope, especially in the first conference where there seems to be a direct remark about what Cardinal Ratzinger had often said about the church being reduced to a "small flock." Read the summaries for your own mini-retreat.
How they are reporting about it in Italy....from the Papa Ratzinger Forum:
Here is a translation of how the Italian service of Vatican Radio reported on the first three meditations led by Cardinal Biffi:
These were some of the themes elaborated by Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, archbishop emeritus of Bologna, in the first three meditations he prepared for the Lenten spiritual exercises at the Vatican for the Pope and the Roman Curia. The exercises started yesterday afternoon at the Redemptoris Mater chapel of the Apostolic Palace.
Alessandro Caroli of Vatican Radio reports further:
By his very nature, man strives to conceive the existence of an 'invisible world', the hypothesis of 'another world' outside the perception of our senses, Biffi observed. To exclude prejudicially the existence of a beyond is an irrational attitude - because man, who is not omniscient, cannot presume to state with certainty what he can neither touch nor see, and and to exclude the idea of a beyond would mean, substantially, condemning himself to a life that has no sense. But even the believer, says Biffi, risks reducing the breadth of divine things to to the measure of his own misery. In summary, this was the premise for the first Lenten meditation proposed by Cardinal Biffi Sunday afternoon at the start of the annual Lenten retreat for the Pope and the Roman Curia. The sign that one takes the 'invisible world' seriously, he said,is if one takes the world of angels seriously. He stigmatized the mentality today for whom the hidden reality of angels is among the most derisive concepts, because that mentality is not inclined to think at all about 'higher things.' ['Things above' or 'Higher things' is the theme of this year's retreat.] But if one considers these 'higher realities', then, Cardinal Biffi says, the Christian will lose his fear that the Church is being reduced to a small flock compared to the forces that undermine it, because he will see the Church for what it is: part of a very crowded community that inhabits the space between earth and heaven.
In the two meditations on Monday morning, Cardinal Biffi dwelt on two aspects of the faith that call for particular reflection duting Lent; conversion - and therefore, the sense of sin and of redemptive repentance; and death itself as redemption. The liturgy of Lent, Biffi said, in the first of the Monday meditations, derives from a sentence that represents the opening of Jesus's public preaching, "Repent and believe in the Gospel." Therefore, he said, Lent is not the time for the believer to determine 'if' there is something he needs to change in himself, but rather 'what' he should change, or convert from a state of error to one of grace. And conversion - which is a change of direction in one's journey through life - starts from the heart, from internal repentance. If the disciple of Christ firmly renounces sin, it doesn't detract at all from the certainty of divine mercy, and authentic repentance will inevitably beer fruit in joy. Biffi noted that today, there is no sense of repentance because the sense of sin itself has been lost. But this is not really true, he said with some irony, because our era is marked by the continuous denunciation of wrongdoing in the media and public tribunals. Which means that the sense of sin exists, but a sense of the sins committed by others. Onthe contrary, he said, redemptive repentance lies in recognizing one's mistakes, because dissociating oneself from sin is in itself coming closer to God who is the antithesis of evil, and in doing so, we can better perceive the imminence of His kingdom.
Biffi's take-off for the third meditation was the imposition of ashes at the start of Lent - and the sentence that accompanies the rite ("Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return"). In a world that does not recognize the invisible world, he said, death is defeat. And a life which, according to that mentality, is destined to end in nothingness, also renders itself empty - because according to this vision, the most perverse existence and the most generous would both be rewarded smilarly, with nothingness. And so, that mentality almost denies death itself by not talking about it. The growing number of suicides, like the death of some teenagers who just came back from a discotheque [referring to some fresh news in Italy] are the tragic emblems of lives spent senselessly. But such a void, life without sense, is absurd for the human mind, Biffi said. And this is where the evangelical message makes a profound difference. The Christian does not censor the thought of death, he is not ashamed of feeling dismayed by the thought, because the Lord too felt all these apprehensions. Biffi said the ministers of the Church must be able to combat the conditioning that avoids a serious reflection on death. Man, he said, should be led to choose not between an unknown future and a present life of enjoyment, but between a life devoid of sense which ends in nothingness, or the hope of an event that will give us both a sense for our earthly life and a goal which is resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ is a reality that can be opposed to the ineluctable and experiential fact of death. And that is why, he said, ashes can never be dissociated from Easter. Ashes symbolize not so much what we will become, but what we could become if we do not open our hearts to the invisible world which encompasses the event of Salvation. And also, that life without God would be a flame that can only end in a handful of ashes.
How they are reporting about it in Italy....from the Papa Ratzinger Forum:
Here is a translation of how the Italian service of Vatican Radio reported on the first three meditations led by Cardinal Biffi:
- The existence of an invisible world, which implies the presence of divine creatures ignored and derided by the culture of positivist scientism,
- The need to convert hearts so they may consciously choose God rather than evil,
- And thus, in this context, the value of repentance with respect to the sense of sin, and the value of the life we live with the hope that there is something beyond rather than nothing -
These were some of the themes elaborated by Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, archbishop emeritus of Bologna, in the first three meditations he prepared for the Lenten spiritual exercises at the Vatican for the Pope and the Roman Curia. The exercises started yesterday afternoon at the Redemptoris Mater chapel of the Apostolic Palace.
Alessandro Caroli of Vatican Radio reports further:
By his very nature, man strives to conceive the existence of an 'invisible world', the hypothesis of 'another world' outside the perception of our senses, Biffi observed. To exclude prejudicially the existence of a beyond is an irrational attitude - because man, who is not omniscient, cannot presume to state with certainty what he can neither touch nor see, and and to exclude the idea of a beyond would mean, substantially, condemning himself to a life that has no sense. But even the believer, says Biffi, risks reducing the breadth of divine things to to the measure of his own misery. In summary, this was the premise for the first Lenten meditation proposed by Cardinal Biffi Sunday afternoon at the start of the annual Lenten retreat for the Pope and the Roman Curia. The sign that one takes the 'invisible world' seriously, he said,is if one takes the world of angels seriously. He stigmatized the mentality today for whom the hidden reality of angels is among the most derisive concepts, because that mentality is not inclined to think at all about 'higher things.' ['Things above' or 'Higher things' is the theme of this year's retreat.] But if one considers these 'higher realities', then, Cardinal Biffi says, the Christian will lose his fear that the Church is being reduced to a small flock compared to the forces that undermine it, because he will see the Church for what it is: part of a very crowded community that inhabits the space between earth and heaven.
In the two meditations on Monday morning, Cardinal Biffi dwelt on two aspects of the faith that call for particular reflection duting Lent; conversion - and therefore, the sense of sin and of redemptive repentance; and death itself as redemption. The liturgy of Lent, Biffi said, in the first of the Monday meditations, derives from a sentence that represents the opening of Jesus's public preaching, "Repent and believe in the Gospel." Therefore, he said, Lent is not the time for the believer to determine 'if' there is something he needs to change in himself, but rather 'what' he should change, or convert from a state of error to one of grace. And conversion - which is a change of direction in one's journey through life - starts from the heart, from internal repentance. If the disciple of Christ firmly renounces sin, it doesn't detract at all from the certainty of divine mercy, and authentic repentance will inevitably beer fruit in joy. Biffi noted that today, there is no sense of repentance because the sense of sin itself has been lost. But this is not really true, he said with some irony, because our era is marked by the continuous denunciation of wrongdoing in the media and public tribunals. Which means that the sense of sin exists, but a sense of the sins committed by others. Onthe contrary, he said, redemptive repentance lies in recognizing one's mistakes, because dissociating oneself from sin is in itself coming closer to God who is the antithesis of evil, and in doing so, we can better perceive the imminence of His kingdom.
Biffi's take-off for the third meditation was the imposition of ashes at the start of Lent - and the sentence that accompanies the rite ("Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return"). In a world that does not recognize the invisible world, he said, death is defeat. And a life which, according to that mentality, is destined to end in nothingness, also renders itself empty - because according to this vision, the most perverse existence and the most generous would both be rewarded smilarly, with nothingness. And so, that mentality almost denies death itself by not talking about it. The growing number of suicides, like the death of some teenagers who just came back from a discotheque [referring to some fresh news in Italy] are the tragic emblems of lives spent senselessly. But such a void, life without sense, is absurd for the human mind, Biffi said. And this is where the evangelical message makes a profound difference. The Christian does not censor the thought of death, he is not ashamed of feeling dismayed by the thought, because the Lord too felt all these apprehensions. Biffi said the ministers of the Church must be able to combat the conditioning that avoids a serious reflection on death. Man, he said, should be led to choose not between an unknown future and a present life of enjoyment, but between a life devoid of sense which ends in nothingness, or the hope of an event that will give us both a sense for our earthly life and a goal which is resurrection. The Resurrection of Christ is a reality that can be opposed to the ineluctable and experiential fact of death. And that is why, he said, ashes can never be dissociated from Easter. Ashes symbolize not so much what we will become, but what we could become if we do not open our hearts to the invisible world which encompasses the event of Salvation. And also, that life without God would be a flame that can only end in a handful of ashes.
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